After calling on Speaker Boehner to bring a vote on the minimum wage to the House floor, Congressman tours Des Moines small business RAYGUN

Des Moines – Rep. Bruce Braley (IA-01) today toured Des Moines small business RAYGUN with U.S. Senator Tom Harkin and U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez to continue his push to raise the federal minimum wage.

“RAYGUN shows you that restoring the minimum wage to a living wage is a boon to businesses, their employees, and the local economy,” Braley said. “An extra dollar or two an hour is a life-changing amount to the 300,000 Iowans who would see a raise if this law passed — it’s time we did the right thing.”

Braley, Harkin, and Perez met with workers at RAYGUN — a screen-printing company in Des Moines that is vocal about the benefits of higher wages, arguing that higher wages help build a strong workforce and profitability in the long run, while putting more money into the hands of workers who spend it in the local economy.

Braley also recently released a report on the minimum wage showing that since 1968, Iowans making the minimum wage have seen their real incomes fall by more than 30 percent. This means a parent with one child working 40 hours a week at a minimum wage job is living in poverty. Today, roughly 46,000 Iowans work jobs that pay at or below the minimum wage. Braley’s report indicated that over 300,000 Iowans would receive a raise if the minimum wage was raised to $10.10.

His report examines how the purchasing power of minimum wage earners has decreased dramatically over time, resulting in many minimum wage earners living in poverty despite working 40 hours a week. The report also illustrates that over time the gap has steadily grown between minimum wage earnings and earnings of the average worker.